Freddie Mercury's School in India

by Melissa Rumao (Germany)

Making a local connection India

'Bohemian Rhapsody ‘ just hit the screens and that’s when we decided that why not write down a little about this beautiful town that Freddie Mercury grew up in! Yes! He was schooled in India in a beautiful hilly town tucked in Maharashtra, Panchgani. Here are some travel tips if you do plan on visiting this beautiful place and paying a tribute to the ‘Queen’ lead singer Freddie Mercury! Panchgani was a British favorite before it became my favorite. The perfect blend of hot and cold had British officers running to the hills during summers, a lot of them even stayed back and married locals, thus giving this little town the little English style cottages and sprawling lawns. Oh! You can spend an entire day just walking by these cottages, taking in all that’s left of the colonial era! The weather is incredible and it will definitely be ‘A Walk to Remember’. A typical breakfast of bun-maska, chai and a double cheese omlet at Panchgani’s oldest Parsi café Lucky’s will cost you around Rs.100 ($1.42) This little cafe has been here since Mercury's school days and still remains a hit among the boys in the boarding! Another place the boys and Mercury would frequently visit was Akbar Ali, they serve some buttery and loaded parathas for Rs.100 ($1.42) a plate! They were super scrumptious and filling. Oh! they serve piping hot pav bhaji too!! This quiet town is tucked in the sleepy hills and doesn’t experience a lot of activity, just the hustle, and bustle of locals running errands during the day. After 7 pm the town is dim and the breeze just sweeps away the chaos. These long walks in the evening had me glowing. I suggest you take a romantic walk under the stars too! And maybe you'll come across more places that Freddie Mercury had been too! I am a huge fan of his and this trip somehow got me closer to the life of this late super-star